


Sunways of the West

by redundant_lava



Series: While the Fates Sleep [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Auror Harry Potter, Auror Neville Longbottom, Auror Ron Weasley, Fix-It, Gen, Other, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Hogwarts, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29604882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redundant_lava/pseuds/redundant_lava
Summary: Long fic AU where Delphini was born in August 1981 before Voldemort was defeated (the first time), making her only one year younger than the Golden Trio. Delphini is sent away to hide after her father disappears, and she doesn’t have any contact with the main plot of books 1-7. After the end of the war in 1998, Hermionie discovers records of Delphini’s existence and kicks off an investigation into who she is and what threat she might pose to the post-war Wizarding World. Mostly canon-compliant with books 1-7.Featuring: Actual character depth for Delphi, the 90s references we were cheated out of, retconning some weird Pottermore world building so that it actually makes sense, and (later) some Albus Dumbledore slander.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Series: While the Fates Sleep [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2175042
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is loosely based on the poem _While the Fates Sleep_ by Lucy Maud Montgomery
> 
> **While The Fates Sleep**
> 
> Come, let us to the sunways of the west  
> Hasten, while crystal dews the rose-cups fill,  
> Let us dream dreams again in our blithe quest  
> O’er whispering wold and hill.  
> Castles of air yon wimpling valleys keep  
> Where milk-white mist steals from the purpling sea,  
> They shall be ours in the moon’s wizardry,  
> While the fates, wearied, sleep.
> 
> The viewless spirit of the wind will sing  
> In the soft starshine by the reedy mere,  
> The elfin harps of hemlock boughs will ring  
> Fitfully far and near;  
> The fields will yield their trove of spice and musk,  
> And balsam from the glens of pine will fall,  
> Till twilight weaves its tangled shadows all  
> In one dim web of dusk.
> 
> Let us put tears and memories away,  
> While the fates sleep time stops for revelry;  
> Let us look, speak, and kiss as if no day  
> Has been or yet will be;  
> Let us make friends with laughter ‘neath the moon,  
> With music on the immemorial shore,  
> Yea, let us dance as lovers danced of yore  
> The fates will waken soon!
> 
> \--Lucy Maud Montgomery

Euphemia Rowle was having an exceptionally bad day. Her antique radio cabinet, which was charmed to only play her regular radio stations, was acting peculiar. It would on any other occasion quietly buzz, announcing the weekend’s quidditch scores and the morning’s Floo Traffic report. But this morning the charm had somehow degraded, causing the device to loudly play awful muggle music, of which Euphemia had no taste for. 

In addition to the noisy ruckus the immutable radio was causing, her lovely pet bird was in a not-so-lovely mood. Her darling Agatha, an Irish Auguray she doted on, was beginning to molt and was therefore an irritable mess. Euphemia was not sure if Agatha’s loud, arrhythmic cries were due to the molting as well, or perhaps there was a storm coming. 

She glanced out the kitchen window and noted that there was not a cloud in the sky, so her darling bird was probably just emotional from the molting. It’s quite odd, Euphemia thought, that the Daily Prophet delivery owl had not yet arrived, given the weather was so nice and should have caused no delays.

Her musings on the weather were interrupted by the third and possibly worst thorn in her side at the moment: the wailing cries of an infant. Euphemia let out an exasperated sigh. She flicked her wand, wordlessly transferring the baby potion she had been heating into a small glass bottle. 

As she affixed the rubber teat to the top of the bottle, she was slightly consoled by the fact that this was certainly the last bottle she would have to feed this ungrateful child. The Lestrange’s would be here in less than an hour to pick up their daughter. While the couple was very generous in terms of payment for her services, Euphemia had resolved that she would not be babysitting for them again. She hated children and was exhausted by an infant’s constant needs.

The baby girl began to cry louder.

“I’m coming” Euphemia snapped, losing her temper. Euphemia was usually a quite patient woman, but this child in particular had driven her to witt’s end. What was worse is that she could not even complain about this annoyance to anyone. Part of the conditions the Lestranges insisted on when they hired Euphemia was that their daughter’s existence be kept an absolute secret.

Euphemia supposed this was because of the couple’s somewhat tenuous legal status. They likely did not have the opportunity to muck about with signing birth certificates and sending formal birth announcements given their current  _ line of work _ .

She turned to walk out of the kitchen when she was hit with a face full of feathers. 

Euphemia swore as she spit out owl feathers. The delivery owl was on her kitchen floor, still recovering from the collision. 

“Give me that!” She spat, snatching the rolled up newspaper with her free hand, the bottle of milk still in the other.

The baby cried even louder, straining her tiny lungs.

Euphemia was unphased by this increase in volume. Just another annoying noise amid many this morning. She absentmindedly unrolled the newspaper as she continued toward the other room to quiet the Lestrange spawn.

The bottle slipped, shattering on the tile floor. The baby was screaming now, but Euphemia did not move to address either. She was staring at the front page of The Daily Prophet.

**_Sunday, 1 November, 1981_ **  
**YOU-KNOW-WHO IS DEAD**

The Lestranges would not be coming to pick up Delphini today.

  
  



	2. Part I - The Blithe Quest : A Birthday Surprise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Ron meet up with Hermione for lunch. She has made an intriguing discovery.

Harry Potter walked down a busy London street. The brisk September air blew across his face, and he took a deep breath, taking in the rare bit of sunshine he hardly ever saw.

“Nice to get out of that dingy ministry office,” Harry remarked to Ron, who was fiddling with a zipper on his muggle coat. 

“I’ll say!” Ron replied, giving up on the zipper. “Not even two weeks into this Auror training and I’m starting to think we should have gone back to Hogwarts. At least there we weren’t stuck inside dawn to dusk.”

They turned a corner and approached the café they were headed to for lunch. Immediately, Harry’s eyes fell on a woman sitting at one of the outdoor tables. She had bushy brown hair and was pouring over a book.

“Hermionie!” Ron called out, waving. Hermione looked up from her book and stood up to greet them. 

“I’m shocked you two are actually on time,” Hermione said to them, grinning. 

“I’m shocked McGonagall lets you come and go from the castle on a whim.” Ron replied. “Is it even the real Hogwarts experience if you don’t have to sneak around?”

Hermione gave a half smile. “Well it’s not quite a whim,” she said. “Why don’t you two sit down?” she said, gesturing at the table.

While Harry was thrilled to see his friend, the look on her face gave him some worry. She had returned to Hogwarts to complete her final year of magical education, which had surprised no one given Hermione’s dedication to her studies. But he couldn’t imagine it was easy returning, especially on her own. After the battle in May, the castle now held a lot of dark memories along with the good from their childhood.

“How are things at school?” Harry asked. 

“Oh, they’re quite alright.” She said, looking distracted as she glanced around the café.

Ron seemed to pick up on her strange behavior and gave a concerned glance to Harry.

“You weren’t followed by any reporters, were you?” She asked the two of them.

“Well we didn’t get all dressed up in muggle clothes for nothing ‘mione,” Ron said.

Hermione reached inside her coat and slipped her wand under the table. Harry could make out her whispering  _ muffliato _ along with a couple other anti-observation charms he vaguely remembered from the Auror handbook.

“Hermionie, you’re starting to get us worried,” Harry said to her. It was unlike Hermione to so brazenly use magic in public like that.

“Look, I’d love to catch up and do the small talk, but I have something more important we need to discuss,” she said in a hushed voice.

Hermione flipped to the front of the book she had been studying when the boys arrived. As she pulled out a folded piece of paper she had tucked inside the cover, Harry caught sight of the title page

Sacred Twenty Eight - The Pureblood Directory of Wizarding Britain

_ Compiled by Cantankerus Nott _

What was Hermione doing reading some out-dated tome on purebloods? Harry looked back at her with confusion. She picked up the folded paper and acted as if she was going to hand it to Harry, but changed her mind and picked up the book instead.

“No let’s do this first,” she said, handing the book to Harry. 

Ron had noticed the title of the book as well. “Blimey Hermionie, how’d you manage to get your hands on one of those?” he asked. “Not many copies of that left around these days.”

“Where I got it is not important, Ronald” she said, waving aside his question. “Turn to the section on the Lestranges, see I’ve bookmarked it there.”

Harry flipped to a page about halfway through the book that was marked with a thin ribbon.

Harry stared at the page, documenting the generations of Lestranges, their marriages and children. He wasn’t sure what Hermione was getting at though. She was always two steps ahead of him and Ron, something that had become painfully apparent now that the two of them were on their own for Auror training.

“Bloody hell!” said Ron, a little too loudly. Hermione’s charms must have been well cast, because none of the muggles in the café even gave them a second glance at the outburst.

Ron was staring at the bottom of the second page, and that’s when Harry saw it too. The last names on the page should have been Rodolphus Lestrange and his late wife Belatrix Lestrange. But beneath the line that connected their names signifying their marriage, there was one final name. “Delphini Lestrange.”

Harry was in shock.

“Wait,” he said, still trying to wrap his head around the idea. “So, Bellatrix and Rodolphus, what, had a secret child that no one knew about? How is that even possible?”

“Yeah,” Ron added. “I mean these books are rare, but I’d reckon at least the remaining of the families in it have at least one copy. Someone would have noticed by now.”

“That’s what I thought at first,” Hermione said. “The book is supposed to magically update when a child is born, but look at the birth date.”

Harry glanced back down at the page. The date below Delphini’s name read, “August 31st, 1981.” There was no death date listed.

“She’s still alive,” Harry said. “And she’d be what, 17?”

“Not two weeks ago” Hermione confirmed. “I came across this last week when I was doing some revising for a History of Magic project. My theory is that the Lestranges did some sort of spell to prevent her name from appearing in the directory until she was of age.”

“But why?” Ron interjected. “Pureblood families like the Lestranges love showing off their families, why would they care to hide their kid?”

“Well they did go to azkaban shortly after she was born,” Harry suggested. “Maybe they thought she’d be safer if no one knew who’s daughter she was?”

“Yes, I considered that.” Hermione said. “I also thought maybe she was a squib, and perhaps they were embarrassed of her.” 

Ron shook his head. “Nah, the Lestrange’s would have just offed her if they thought she was a squib. Old family like that, they wouldn’t want people to talk.” 

Harry grimaced at the thought that someone would kill their own child just because they couldn’t do magic. But then again, this was the Lestrange’s they were talking about.

“Well I was confused about the reasoning too,” Hermione said. She picked up the folded paper that she had pulled out of the book earlier, and handed it to Ron. “I did some digging in the Ministry records, and found this.”

Ron unfolded the page, but upon glancing at the header looked back at Hermione. “This is a sealed record, how did you get this?”

“Oh I’m sorry Mr. Auror, are you going to arrest your girlfriend? Read the document.” She shot back.

Ron’s eyes scanned the page, and his face paled. He looked like he might be sick.

“What is it?” Harry asked, wanting to grab the page out of Ron’s hand.

Ron swallowed. “It’s an adoption record.”

“So someone adopted her, after the Lestrange’s went to prison?” Harry asked. His mind was racing, running though all the students in Ginny’s year. Who could the secret Lestrange be?

“No,” said Ron, shaking his head. “Rodolphus adopted her, the day after she was born. Her original surname wasn’t Lestrange. It was Riddle.”


	3. The Blithe Quest: A School in Scotland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry goes on a field exercise for Auror training

Of course the story leaked. It had been less than a week since Harry and Ron had brought Hermione’s findings to their superiors in the Auror Office when the Daily Prophet had picked up the story. By the next day, every wizarding paper in Europe had headlines speculating about Voldemort’s mysterious bastard child. The theories ranged from the mundane to outright conspiratorial. Was Voldemort’s pet snake secretly Delphini? Was Valmai Morgan secretly Delphini? Was Harry Potter secretly Delphini?

Rodolphus Lestrange, who was serving a life sentence in Azkaban, had made no public comment on the matter, although that had not stopped numerous reporters from trying to submit visitor’s requests to get details from him. It was also not uncommon for Harry and Ron to be harassed on their way in to work by journalists hoping to get a scoop from the Auror’s office.

By mid-October, every 7th-year student at Hogwarts had been accused of possibly being the mysterious Delphini Lestrange. The worst case of this was when an opinion writer for the Daily Prophet suggested that Ginny Weasly was truly Tom Riddle’s daughter, citing her opening the Chamber of Secrets in her first year at Hogwarts. Ginny, who never wanted to seem weak, told Harry in a letter that she didn’t concern herself with rags like the Daily Prophet, but Harry knew she was sensitive about the subject. Molly, on the other hand, was outwardly furious at the public attack on her daughter, and paid a visit to the paper’s editor’s office. Harry wasn’t sure what went on in that meeting, but the Daily Prophet did not run any more opinion pieces from that contributor again.

On top of the speculation of her identity, there was also a wide range of conspiracies that any and every magical incident in Britain was somehow associated with this new Lestrange. Not every Death Eater had been captured after the war, so there had been whispers for months that they were still out plotting. This new development just amplified the rumors more.

With all the buzz this was causing at the ministry, Harry was almost relieved when Proudfoot told the Auror training class that they would be going to Edinburgh for a week-long field exercise. After six weeks of nothing but paperwork and classroom study, Harry was ready to get out of London and do some practical work.

* * *

The Auror training class was staying at the Wyrick Hotel on Victoria Street, a wizarding street in central Edinburgh. After dropping their bags at their hotel room, Harry and Ron headed downstairs to meet up with some of their fellow trainees at the hotel bar. 

Harry caught sight of Neville sitting alone at one of the tables, squinting at his pocket-sized Auror’s handbook. Harry and Ron grabbed two drinks from the bar before joining their school friend at his table.

“Come on, mate. There will be plenty of time to study later. This is our only night off this week,” Ron chided Neville. 

Neville quickly looked up from the handbook and shoved it into his robes, an embarrassed smile on his face.

“I know, I know,” he said. “But I’m absolute rubbish at memorizing these protocols, I just know I’m going to mess them up during the exercise.”

“We don’t even know what the practical exercise is yet,” Harry reminded Neville.

“I know,” Neville sighed. “I just want to do good, ya know? I’m not the strongest candidate in the class.”

“Rubbish, you’re definitely doing better than me. And you can’t be the worst in the class” Ron pointed out, giving a glance across the room to Nikolas Catts, who had already caused two accidents resulting in other Auror candidates being injured, and had a reputation for forgetting his study materials.

Neville gave an appreciative smile. “Any ideas on what we might be up against this week?” he asked.

“It could be anything, to be honest,” Harry said. “We’ve covered duling, encountering magical creatures, tracking, and not to mention all those legal codes we were supposed to read.”

Ron groaned. “Oh, that would be a trip wouldn’t it. Drag us all out to Scotland just to have us recite the fines for various misdemeanors and the proper form the citation is filed on.”

“I wouldn’t put it past Proudfoot,” Harry said. “The man has an unhealthy love for paperwork.”

“Talking about paperwork, eh? Well aren’t you lot a fun bunch,” interjected a new voice.

Eddie Carmichael pulled up a chair to their table and sat down with Harry, Ron and Neville. Carmichael had been a year ahead of them at Hogwarts, and while they had never interacted much at school he was an enjoyable enough classmate in their Auror training class, albeit it a little overly friendly.

“We’re speculating on what Proudfoot has planned for us in this ‘Practical Exercise’ week,” Ron clarified.

“Ahh in that case you may be right, I wouldn’t put it past the man to make us run around the city just documenting ordinance violations in triplicate,” Carmichael laughed. “He definitely loves the rule book, which is why I was so surprised we were staying here of all places.”

“What do you mean by that?” Harry asked quizzically.

“Oh I just mean, the Wyricks are an old-money pureblood family,” Carmichael explained. “Got hotels all over the world, right? And there was all that speculation last year that they might’ve been funneling money to the Death Eaters through their international businesses, and the family never made a public statement even pretending to deny it.”

Harry raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t realized that Wyrick Hotels was a chain.

“Anyway,” Carmichael continued. “With all the accusations now that the Ministry helped to cover up this Delphini girl, it seems like a bad look for the Auror Office to be spending all this money on luxury hotel accommodations from a family with ties to You-Know-Who.”

“That is a little weird,” Harry agreed. He made a mental note to bring it up with Kingsley next time they spoke. Not that the Minister for Magic had a lot of time to speak with him these days.

Carmichael finished the last of his drink and set the glass on the table. “Ehh, maybe I’m just overthinking it,” he admitted. “But it just rubs me the wrong way. Especially when the Ministry’s already looked the other way on families like the Malfoys. It’s a damn shame that Lucius and his brood aren’t rotting in Azkaban right now.”

Harry felt a pit in his stomach. It had been his own testimony that had helped the Malfoys escape prison time. 

“I can’t say anything in defense of Lucias,” Harry started. “But Draco is not his father. He saved me and Ron’s life last year.”

Ron grumbled something that sounded like “saved is a bit of a stretch,” but Harry ignored him and continued.

“And if it hadn't been for Narcissa lying to Voldemort, I might not have been able to defeat him that night at Hogwarts,” Harry finished.

“And should those singular acts absolve them of their other crimes?” Carmichael challenged.

Harry didn’t have a response. The atmosphere at the table had suddenly become very tense. Carmichael seemed to notice this, and glanced down at his empty glass.

“Another round for everyone?” Carmichael asked, breaking the silence.

“Merlin, no,” Ron said quickly. “We have to be up at five in the morning tomorrow, mate!”

“Ahhh, look at you Weasly,” Carmichael chided, giving him a punch to the shoulder. “Being all responsible. That Granger girl is rubbing off on you ain’t she?”

“S’pose so” Ron grunted sheepishly. 

“How are Hermionie and Ginny doing at Hogwarts?” Neville asked, happy for a change in subject.

“It sounds like they’re doing well, from their letters,” Harry said. “We’re supposed to have a fire-call with them at the end of the week too, which will be nice.”

“I think Hermionie’s doing more for this Lestrange investigation than the Ministry is, to be honest,” Ron added. “I don’t know how she has time for it all.”

“Your sister seems to be doing pretty well for herself on the quidditch team,” Carmichael said to Ron. “Saw a highlight reel last week. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always be cheering for Ravenclaw, but the way that girl flies? Damn, I’d be surprised if she wasn’t playing pro by next season.”

“Maybe if she makes a team I can finally get decent seats at a game!” Ron joked.

* * *

At 5 o’clock the next morning, all of the Auror candidates were lined up in the courtyard of the hotel. Harry noted that some of his classmates might have had a little too much fun last night, and looked a bit hungover. Carmichael had mentioned on the way downstairs that the front desk was out of rehydration potions, which is why some of their classmates were still ailed by their festivities from the night before. Harry thought this was strange that a high-end hotel like the Wyrick would be out of a basic amenity, and he suspected Proudfoot might have arranged for the potion to be “unavailable” to his students.

Proudfoot, who looked to have far too much energy for this time of morning, took no mercy and began his briefing in a booming voice.

“Good morning, candidates!” his voice echoed across the courtyard. A couple of the drowsy students grumbled and rubbed their ears.

“I’m sure you are all excited to get your first taste of field work,” he continued. “But I will warn you, for the first day we’ve set you up with a challenge.”

The candidates glanced at each other, wondering what their instructor had cooked up for this challenge.

“I’m sure you all remember your study of section 4-17(b) in your handbook,” Proudfoot said in a tone suggesting he was confident his students had done no such study. Harry himself had skimmed all of the assigned readings, but for the life of him could not have recalled what section 4-17(b) covered.

“But to remind you,” Proudfoot pressed on. “The success of an investigation can live or die on an Auror’s ability to remain covert.

“In today’s exercise, we will be testing your ability to travel to an objective, discreetly and unobserved.”

Harry did somewhat remember there being a section in the handbook on how to lose a tail when being followed. He wished now he had read that section more closely.

Proudfoot explained that they would each be given a photo of a location in the city they had to travel to, unobserved and without apparition. Given how difficult it is to apparate to an unfamiliar place, Harry didn’t suspect this was that much of an added constraint to him and his fellow candidates since most of them probably couldn’t have achieved that anyway.

They would each be given a portkey that would take them all to different locations in Edinburgh where they would then have to make their way to their objective without being followed by any of the unknown number of full-fledged Aurors who had volunteered to help with this training activity by tailing the students. They had nine hours to reach their objective, which Harry initially thought was quite a long time, but then he remembered he would probably have to do a lot of doubling-back to try and lose anyone who might be following him.

Proudfoot directed the candidates over to several bins full of muggle clothes he had brought out for them to use as disguises. Harry had never been a fashion savant, but he did notice that many of the articles were out of date and would certainly not be in style in 1998. He tried his best to pick out items that somewhat went together.

“So we can’t use any magic?” Catts asked. 

“No apparition - but other magic is allowed,” Proudfoot clarified. “But keep in mind this is a muggle city, and you must maintain the Statute of Secrecy.”

The candidates lined up behind a row of miscellaneous objects - each enchanted as a portkey to a random location in the city. Harry stood behind a deflated tennis ball, and Ron lined up next to him, behind a chipped tea cup.

Proudfoot passed them each a sealed envelope, and explained that they could open it once they reached their start point. Inside was a photo of their objective they had to travel to. It was up to them to figure out where that was, exactly.

“Good luck, mate” Ron said to Harry, a nervous look on his face.

“You too,” Harry replied.

The portkeys on the ground began to glow with a dim blue light. It was time to go. Harry watched a few other candidates grab their objects and disappear, before giving Ron one last encouraging thumbs up, and reaching down to touch his tennis ball.

There was a sharp tug behind his navel, the courtyard disappeared, and the air forced its way out of Harry’s lungs. He had the unsettling feeling of falling uncontrollably. He still was not skilled at traveling by portkey.

Harry landed hard on his back, on what felt like concrete. As his vision cleared he could make out the grey sky above. Harry sat up and adjusted his glasses, trying to get his bearings. 

He had landed in a car park, behind a group of large rectangular buildings. He could see at the side of one of the buildings was a parked ambulance, and then noticed the sign nearby indicating an emergency room entrance. He must be behind a hospital. 

Harry stood up and brushed himself off, looking around to see if anyone had spotted him land. It was still dark out, and there didn’t seem to be anyone loitering on this side of the medical complex who might have seen Harry appear spontaneously in midair. Harry reminded himself that he wasn’t just concerned about muggles, but of other Aurors spotting him. 

Harry walked over to a covered smokers area, and cast a muggle repelling charm. He was going to need to cast several other spells, and did not want to be surprised by an unsuspecting muggle. 

Next, he cast a detection charm to see if there were any wizards nearby. The test came up negative, but a full fledged Auror would almost certainly know how to conceal themselves from it. All this really told Harry was that there were no civilian witches or wizards nearby. 

He continued to cast a few more spells they had been taught in their tracking and investigations unit during Auror training. When no alarming results came up, Harry felt comfortable enough to start on his next task: figuring out where he needed to go.

Harry opened the envelope Proudfoot had given him. Inside was a color photograph of an old stone building. There was a short set of stairs leading up to the front door, and some words engraved above the main entrance that he couldn’t quite make out. It was a wizarding photograph, but Harry had almost not noticed at first because there was so little movement in the frame. The lighting in the photo flickered ever so slightly, as if clouds had been moving overhead when the photo was taken. In the corner of the photo there was a man with a backpack, standing near the staircase and facing out of the shot. Every few seconds his arms would move, gesturing in a conversation he was having with someone who was not pictured.

Harry couldn’t be sure, but the grandiose architecture and the man with the backpack made him think this might be a school, or possibly a government building. He squinted at the photo, trying to make out the words on the building. Did it say Zoo? Was there a zoo in Edinburgh? Harry couldn’t remember. No, there was more written there. 

At any rate, it didn’t matter where he was going if he didn’t first figure out where he was right now. He cast a quick locator charm, determining that he was somewhere southeast of the main city. Well, Harry though, whether his objective was a zoo or a school, his best bet was to head towards the city center, and work from there. He did have nine hours, after all. Harry taped the photo with his wand, freezing it in place so that it was indistinguishable from a muggle photo.

“Just in case I drop it,” he thought to himself, tucking the photo into his pocket.

Before stepping off, Harry took a moment to transfigure his muggle clothes into something more modern. He adjusted the denim pants to have a straight leg instead of a flare, and morphed the oversized polka-dot jumper he had grabbed from the pile into a solid colored windcheater. 

Harry had been walking for about twenty minutes when he spotted his first tail. It was almost sunrise and was starting to get light out, but there were still very few people out walking. 

Someone in a long coat and a baseball cap had been following Harry for three blocks. Had it not been for the out-of-place combination of a dress coat and casual headwear, Harry might not have given the man a second glance, and Harry suspected he was using notice-me-not charm that had almost worn off. 

Stay calm, he told himself. He continued walking, as if he had not noticed anything. If he went straight into the maneuvers that they had covered in class, then the Auror following him would know he’d been made and would likely fall back. If that happened, Harry couldn’t be sure if he was still being followed. 

Instead, he turned off the street to cross another car park and went into a coffee shop as if he was not concerned at all about being followed. He ordered a coffee to-go, and tried to make friendly eye contact with as many muggles as he could in the shop. He wanted to make sure someone remembered he was here. 

“say mate, would you be able to tell me how to get to Newhaven Harbour from here?” Harry asked the server. Harry wasn’t sure if the harbour was one of the objectives, but supposedly the Aurors following them didn’t know where all the objectives were either. 

Harry pretended to listen to the directions, while determining his next move. He thanked the cashier, paid with muggle money, and left through the side door. When he rounded the corner, he cast a full body disillusionment on himself, becoming completely invisible. it wouldn’t hold for long, but hopefully it wouldn’t need too. Harry wished he had his invisibility cloak with him, but Hermione had convinced him back in September that he should not use it for his Auror training, as using a Deathly Hallow might give him an unfair advantage over the other candidates. 

Harry re-entered just in time to see the Auror who he had spotted entering the shop. Harry could see his face now, and recognized him as Williamson. 

Williamson had been one of the few Aurors retained after the war who had remained working at the ministry while it was under Voldemort’s control. While some former Aurors like Dawlish had faced criminal charges for their support of the regime, the few who had kept their heads down and had no charges against them were allowed to stay on, if only because the Auror office was so under-manned already. 

Harry tried to remain as still as possible, unsure if his disillusionment charm would hold up. 

He listened to the cashier telling Williamson that Harry had asked for directions to the harbour. Williamson smiled, seeming to buy it. Harry’s plan had worked. Williamson left the shop without any further investigation, and Harry let out a sigh of relief. 

Harry continued to make his way toward the center of town. This was when he used the maneuvers he had learned in training. He cast detection spells and looped his route back and forth, never traveling in a direct path that would make it obvious where he was going. It took hours. 

At first he was moving through residential areas, but as he moved into the more commercial areas there were more people on the street and it was easier to blend in. 

At one point, one of Harry’s detection charms activated, and he thought he had picked up another tail. Upon further investigation, however, Harry spotted the Auror in question following a little too closely behind Catts. Harry thought he recognized the gait as belonging to Auror Berrycloth. 

Harry cast a tripping jinx on a muggle nearby, who bumped into Berrycloth long enough for Catts to slip out of eyesight. Harry hoped that gave his classmate at least a little bit of a head start. 

Harry turned in the opposite direction, coming upon a sign indicating he was near the University of Edinburgh campus. He approached a bus stop, inspecting the small route map for any clues of where his objective might be. 

“Can I help you find something?” A female voice with a strong scottish accent rang out behind him. Harry turned away from the map, wondering if she was talking to him.

A young muggle woman, with light brown hair pulled back into a long braid, gave a friendly wave to Harry. She looked to be about in her early-twenties, and was carrying a green messenger bag adorned with various buttons.

“Are you a new student here?” She asked.

Harry tried to think fast. “Oh, uh, yes.” he managed to get out.

“I know the first year at uni can be a bit intimidating,” she assured him. “But I promise it’s ok to ask for directions, we’ve all been there.”

Harry contemplated excusing himself and trying to look at a map at a different bus stop, but given that he had no luck identifying his specific objective, this muggle woman might be his best shot.

“Well, it’s a bit embarrassing.” Harry started, scrambling to come up with a convincing story in his head. “I don’t know the name of the building my class is in, I just remember what it looks like, so I’m having trouble finding it on the map.”

“Well it looks like you’re in luck,” the woman said with a kind smile. I’m Aynsely, I’m actually a campus tour guide, so I know the names of every building. What does the building look like?”

Harry contemplated pulling out the photo. After all, he had already charmed it to remain stationary like a muggle photo. But he wasn’t sure how to explain why he was carrying around a picture of his supposed school building in his pocket, so he decided to just try and describe it.

“Oh it’s, like, a big stone building, with high windows, and a semi-circle staircase leading up to the main door. And the door is red, I think. Or maybe orange,” Harry tried to explain.

Aynsely thought for a moment.

“Oh!” she exclaimed. “Does it say ‘ZOOLOGY’ above the door?”

“Yes!” Harry responded. Come to think of it, he probably should have started with describing the words on the building. “I tried to find a Zoology Building on the map, but I can’t seem to find it.”

Aynsely giggled . 

“Oh, no worries, it’s an easy mistake,” she said. “The building is actually called Ashworth Laboratories, it’s over by the King’s Buildings area, so it’s not attached to the main campus.”

“Oh,” said Harry. “So I’m in the totally wrong place.”

Aynsely giggled again. “No you’re in the perfect place! This bus actually goes straight to the King’s Building area,” she informed him. “I’m actually going to the Grant Institute myself, which is right next door to Ashworth. We can ride together!”

Great, Harry thought. Now on top of trying to avoid Aurors following him, he had to lose this muggle girl too. But then again, wizards did hate muggle transport, given how unsafe it was, so the bus might be his best option to quickly travel to this King’s Building area without being followed.

“I haven’t ridden the bus here yet,” Harry admitted.

“Don’t worry, English boy,” Aynsley said with a grin. “The buses work just the same in Scotland, and you don’t need a token neither, it’s free for students.”

Harry let out a relieved sigh, but was still a bit worried. Hopefully they didn’t require him to show a student ID. He wasn’t sure if he could discreetly cast a confundus charm on the driver with his new uni friend hovering over his shoulder. Also it might be unsafe to confund the person driving the twelve-tonne motor vehicle he was about to board.

“What’s your name?” Aynsley asked him.

“Harry,” he replied, before mentally kicking himself. He probably should have used a fake name. Not that it particularly mattered in the muggle world, but still, would have been smart.

“Like the prince?” Aynsley joked. “Harry’s a nice name.”

Just then, a bus pulled up to the stop. A few students exited the bus, hurrying off to their classes. The other students waiting at the stop with Harry and Aynsley shuffled into a queue to board at the front.

After boarding with no issues, Harry took a seat near the door at the back, hoping that Aynsley would take an empty seat up front away from him, but the overly friendly Scottish girl was relentless. She plopped down right next to Harry, setting her messenger bag on her lap.

“So what are you studying?” She asked, trying to make small talk.

Harry panicked, trying to think of a muggle course of study. What had Dudley wanted to study at uni? Surely he had mentioned it once.

“English,” he settled on, out of ideas.

“Ahh, like literature? That’s nice,” she said genuinely. She paused and gave Harry a quizzical glance. “Why have you got a class in the biology building?” She queried.

“Oh,” Harry realized his mistake. “It’s, uh, an elective class,” he finished, hoping that was a good enough explanation.

“Ah, I see,” Aynsley said, nodding her head. She seemed to buy it.

There was a bit of an awkward silence, and Harry realized he was being a bit rude.

“What are you studying?” he asked, breaking the silence.

Aynsley sat up excitedly. She had clearly wanted him to ask. “Criminal Justice!” She said. “I’m in my final year, so I’m very excited to hopefully get a job in law enforcement. I’m applying at Scotland Yard.”

Harry hadn’t realized criminal justice was a course of study. Perhaps he should have said that, given that was basically what he was really doing. But then again, Aynsley might have wanted to discuss specific classes or professors, that Harry would know nothing about.

He decided to keep her talking, if only to prevent her from asking him more questions.

“What made you want to study that?” He asked.

Aynsley looked very pleased he had shown interest. Harry hoped she didn’t think he was flirting with her.

“Well, I want to catch bad guys, of course!” Aynsley said while jostling Harry’s shoulder. “I’ve always loved the law, and hopefully as an investigator I can help put some criminals behind bars.”

Harry thought this was quite a simplistic view of law enforcement. He thought again of Malfoy and his mother. The letter of the law said they should be “behind bars,” but Harry didn’t think they deserved that. 

“Is it always that black and white?” Harry asked. “Just because someone breaks the law, does that make them a ‘bad guy’?”

Aynsley gave him another quizzical look. Harry hoped he hadn’t offended her.

“Typical English major,” she finally replied. “You lot do always want to make it poetic.”

Harry smiled, going along with her conclusion. 

“Ah, yeah, you know us,” he agreed. “Always like, ‘who are the bad guys, really?’”

Aynsley giggled again. Thankfully, Harry was saved from more small talk as they pulled up to the next stop.

“This is our stop,” Aynsley said, standing up before the bus had even come to a full stop.

As they debarked the bus, Harry could already see the building he was looking for. He was still trying to decide how he could ditch the scottish student, but it turned out there was no need. Aynsley pointed to the Ashworth building, wished him luck with his class, and said goodbye, heading in the opposite direction. To the Grant Institute, he supposed.

As Harry approached the building, the faint glint of a glamor charm caught the corner of his eye. He approached the side of the main staircase, and found a service door concealed by the charm. This had to be it.

Before opening the door, he cast one last detection charm to make sure no one was around. The coast was clear. Harry opened the door, and stepped into a small storage area containing muggle landscaping equipment and cleaning supplies. Was he in the right place?

“I must say, Potter, I’m impressed at how quickly you got here,” Proudfoot said. He was sitting in a plastic garden chair on the other side of the small room. “You’re the first candidate to reach his objective. Simply identifying your target and navigating through the city to find it is a challenge in itself, for most.”

Harry felt a small burst of pride, but worked to maintain a straight face. He had been nervous about performing well in Auror training. After defeating the most powerful dark wizard of their time, there was an expectation for him to be best. This was an expectation he wasn’t sure he could live up to.

“But overall,” Proudfoot continued. “I’m disappointed. You failed to reach the objective unseen. An Auror was able to follow you here.”

What? Harry had been so sure he hadn’t been followed. He’d been cautious, done checks. He even used muggle transport, for Merlin’s sake.

Proudfoot turned to the door he had just entered from. “Jauncey, would you like to come out?” He called back.

Harry couldn’t remember an Auror named Jauncey. Perhaps that was why Harry had been unable to spot him, because they had never met.

The door opened and the Auror in question entered the room. Harry was shocked. He was looking at Aynsley!

She was still wearing the same muggle clothes he had seen her in on the bus, but she no longer had her messenger bag. Instead she was carrying a wand in her left hand.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Harry Potter”

She no longer had a scottish accent. Instead she spoke in a voice that was clearly American.

“I’m Auror Ouida Jauncey, from the Federal Auror Office,” she said, grinning bigger than ever.

Harry’s heart sank. He had been tricked.

Proudfoot gave Harry a stern nod.

“Better luck tomorrow, Potter”

* * *

After a long week of Proudfoot’s “practical exercises” Ron and Harry were exhausted. The only thing they were looking forward to was their scheduled fire-calls with Ginny and Hermione.

Due to heightened security at Hogwarts, all of the fireplaces in the castle had been closed off from the floo network, except for three in the school library, which students could reserve for specific times to make calls home. Harry and Ginny had exchanged notes by owl post almost every day since the term started in September, but it wasn’t the same as hearing her voice.

On Friday evening, Ron and Harry joined their classmates for one round of drinks before excusing themselves early and heading to the hotel’s business center, which had several private hearths for floo travel and fire-calls.

* * *

“You look like shit” 

Harry laughed at the first words out of Ginny’s mouth. “I miss you too,” he told her.

“I’m kidding Harry, you always look handsome to me,” Ginny assured him. “But seriously, does Proudfoot not let y’all sleep? The bags under your eyes could carry a Kelpie.

“Seems like it sometimes,” Harry admitted. “But I’m getting along just fine, don’t worry.”

“Well that’s a silly thing to say,” Ginny teased him. “I’m dating Harry Potter, of course I’m going to worry about you all the time. You have a tendency to attract danger.”

“Hmmm, well if we’re going to talk about attracting danger, let’s talk about that close call you almost had with that bludger last Saturday,” Harry teased back.

“Oh please,” Ginny rolled her eyes. “That Hufflepuff beater didn’t have shit on me.”

Harry and Ginny continued to talk, recapping her quidditch victories (the Gryffindor team was undefeated this season so far) and discussing the latest Hogwarts gossip. Harry vented to her about his auror classmates he disliked, but tried to throw in some positive stories about working with Ron and Neville too, so he didn’t sound too negative.

Harry loved talking to Ginny. It felt so natural, and she was one of the few people who really understood him, and everything he’d been through over the past seven years, aside from Ron and Hermione of course. He could have sat at that fireplace and talked with her all night, but all too soon her reserved time slot for the library fireplace was coming to an end.

“This was nice,” Ginny said. “We should do calls more often. I love getting your letters, but I prefer to see your face and hear your voice.”

“Actually,” Harry replied, “Depending on how our preliminary exams go next week, Ron and I may be able to take a weekend off in November.”

Ginny raised an eyebrow. She seemed to be thinking the same thing Harry was.

“We were going to try and come up to Hogsmeade one weekend, to see you and Hermione,” Harry said. “Assuming the exams go well, of course.”

“You better study good then, pretty boy.” Ginny said in a mock stern voice. “I expect to be snogging you in Hogsmeade in one month’s time,” she finished with a grin.

* * *

“What did Hermionie have to say?” Harry asked

“Mostly going on about that damn Lestrange case,” Ron complained. 

This piqued Harry’s interest. He and Ron had not been given access to the Ministry’s notes on the case, and the gossip published in the newspapers was hardly reliable. But Hermionie would have a real update.

“She find out anything new?” Harry asked.

“Yeah apparently she found a manifest for some passenger ship, and on the list of passengers it has Delphini Lestrange, accompanied by some woman named Euphemia Rowle,” Ron said. “She thinks Rowle worked for the Lestranges, and she smuggled Delphini out of England in the spring of ‘82.”

“A boat” Harry asked. “To where?”

“America - New York specifically,” Ron replied. “Though I suppose she could be anywhere by now.”

Harry let out an exasperated sigh, and sank into the couch. “I really thought -- I just thought after May we were done with all this Voldemort stuff,” he bemoaned.

Ron let out a small chuckle. “Oh yeah, that’s why you convinced us we both needed to become Aurors, because the threat of dark magic was gone?” he said sarcastically.

Harry rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean.” 

“I know that we have bigger worries than Belatrix Lestrange’s love child. In 17 years this kid hasn’t caused anyone any trouble. The media just wants to be alarmist, but we don’t even know if she’s really a threat.” Ron said

“You’re sounding like Hermionie again,” Harry smiled back at his friend. 

“I hate to admit it,” continued Ron. “But you had a point about Malfoy the other night. People aren’t their parents. I think we just gotta wait and see how things play out. And hey, if it turns out she is some crazy dark-sorceress blood supremist, then we’ll deal with it. We’ve beaten one Riddle before, we can do it again.”

“I guess you have a point,” Harry admitted. “But I think I’m still going to ask Proudfoot if I can shadow on the Lestrange case. Just to get visibility on it.”

Ron shook his head, grabbing his night clothes out of his bag and heading towards the washroom to go change. “Whatever mate,” he resigned. “If you want to stress yourself out more on top of all this Auror training, go right ahead.” 

* * *

Saturday morning, Proudfoot had one last “fun” exercise for the Auror trainee class.

The Auror candidates were paired off and sent out in a retail area looking for magical items that had “made their way” into muggle shops. This turned out to be easier than Harry originally expected, since a telltale sign was that the store clerk had been confunded. By the afternoon, he and Ron had found 14 enchanted items, the most of any pair. 

After lunch, the candidates gathered their belongings and checked out of their rooms, filing in a queue for the fireplace to floo back to the ministry. Once Harry had turned in his key, he stepped out of the queue to speak with Proudfoot privately.

“Potter,” Proudfoot said. “Not even two months ago, you stood in my office and told me you didn’t want to be treated differently than any other Auror candidate. And now you want to go back on that?”

“No, sir” Harry started. “But I’m not asking for special treatment, I’m just asking to read the case files so far, you know, for situational awareness.”

Proudfoot looked unconvinced. “What you need is to focus on your Auror training,” he said.

“But sir,” Harry tried to argue back, but was interrupted by Proudfoot.

“Ah ah ah ah ah,” Proud foot stopped him, holding up a hand. “I know you’re still riding the high from defeating You-Know-Who earlier this year, and while we’re all impressed by your magical combat skills, what the Lestrange case needs right now is good old-fashioned detective work. I promise you that the Auror’s assigned to the case can handle it.”

“I’m not saying they aren’t competent, I just thought-”

But Proudfoot cut him off again. “The answer’s no, Potter,” he said with finality. 


	4. The Blithe Quest: A Different School in Scotland (the one you’re thinking of this time)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Ron visit Ginny and Hermione in Hogsmeade

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	5. The Blithe Quest: Hermione Continues to do All the Work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Hermione join the Weasley's at the Burrow for Christmas

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	6. The Blithe Quest: Letters from New York

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean and Seamus travel to New York. Harry visits Draco on house arrest to try and gather clues about his cousin Delphini

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	7. The Blithe Quest: Cold Day in Cardiff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's draft day for the premier quidditch league in the UK.

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	8. The Blithe Quest: Harry à Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry travels to Paris to support an Anti-Dark-Magic campaign

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	9. The Blithe Quest: Good Friday Promenade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Over Easter break, a huge new development in the Lestrange case is publicized.

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	10. The Blithe Quest: Invitation to Inheritance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry, Ron, and Neville receive a threat-assessment briefing at the Auror Office about Delphini Lestrange

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	11. The Blithe Quest: Legally Speaking, is Money Laundering a Crime?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Delphini returns to England, the influence of the Dark Lord's daughter becomes apparent.

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	12. The Blithe Quest: Sulfur and Berry Bugs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shopping trip in Knocktern Alley goes awry.

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


	13. Part II - One Dim Web: A Heist, Interrupted

This is a chapter preview. More coming soon!


End file.
